Beast (Disney character)
The Beast is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists in Disney's 1991 animated film Beauty and the Beast. As the film is based on the traditional fairy tale of the same name, the Beast is based on the corresponding character from that fairy tale. He has also appeared in two direct-to-video midquels, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas and Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World. The character appears in the Disney Broadway show Beauty and the Beast. He also appears in all three installments of the Disney/Square video game series, Kingdom Hearts, and has appeared numerous times in the ABC series House of Mouse. He is featured in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. The Beast also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable character. The Beast is voiced in all of his movie and video appearances, as well as in the Kingdom Hearts series, by Robby Benson. While his true name is never mentioned in the media franchise, it has been confirmed by the CD-ROM tie-in game The D Show that his real name is Prince AdamThe D Show , Disney Interactive , 1998　ASIN　B000031VV3. Characteristics Personality The Beast's personality is a ploy on his original counterpart from the fairytale, however much less caring. In the original fairytale, the Beast was much more hospitable than his Disney counterpart, even though he was seen to have a short temper. In his introduction in the Disney film, the Beast is seen to be cold hearted, selfish, and impatient. As time continues, the Beast changes and becomes kind, however naive in how the world around him works. After Belle leaves him to return home to her father, his personality becomes almost identical to his counterpart in the original fairytale, sad and lonely, hoping for her return. Outward appearance The Beast is not of any one species of animal, but a mixture of several animals. He has the head structure and horns of a buffalo, the arms and body of a bear, the eyebrows of a gorilla, the mane of a lion, the tusks of a wild boar and the legs and tail of a wolf. He also bears resemblance to mythical monsters like the Minotaur or a werewolf. The Beast also has blue eyes, the one physical feature that does not change whether he is a beast or a human. In the original versions he was described more like a cross between a lion and a mythical animal. Appearances Beauty and the Beast The Prince lived in a luxurious castle in France as a conceited and bitter human. One night, the prince's kindness is put to the test when a beggar woman comes to the castle and asks for shelter from the freezing cold, with a single rose as payment. Repulsed by her appearance, he sneered at the simple gift. The woman begged again, and he still refused. When he shunned the beggar for her repulsive appearance, she then revealed her true form: as a beautiful (and powerful) Enchantress. Seeing her beauty and realizing her power, the prince tried to apologize. But as a punishment for his cold heart, she turned him into a terrifying beast-like creature. She also cast a ghastly curse on the entire castle, transforming it into a dark, foreboding place, its lush green grounds into dangerous wolf-infested woods, and the good-natured servants into anthropomorphic household objects to reflect their different personalities (for instance, Cogsworth, the head of the household, is turned into a clock, due to his obsession with punctuality). Ashamed of his new appearance, the Beast conceals himself inside his castle with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The rose the Enchantress had offered was an enchanted one, which would bloom until his twenty-first birthday. However, the petals of the rose would fall off in due course as it wilted and died. Should he learn to love a woman and earn her love in return before the last petal of the rose fell off, the enchantment would be broken, and he and his servants would regain human form. If he was not able to love before this time, the transformation would be permanent. Apparently the transformation can become permanent early if the rose dies early, as the Beast doesn't want Belle in the west wing of his castle. Ten years later, when Beast locks Maurice, an old man in the tower as a prisoner for trespassing, his daughter, Belle, confronts Beast and pleads with him to let her father go, offering herself as a prisoner instead. The Beast accepts, under the condition that she remain in the castle forever. Belle agrees, and Beast takes Maurice to an enchanted carriage that returns him home. Beast ends up frightening Belle so badly with his violent demeanor that she flees the castle into the wolf-infested forest. Soon regretting the things he said to Belle and losing his temper, and knowing that Belle would not survive in the forest, the Beast pursues her and fights off a pack of wolves when she is attacked. Exhausted and badly injured from fighting, the Beast passes out in the snow. Beast comes to appreciate Belle when she tends to his wounds and strikes up a friendship with her. Over the next few days, Beast and Belle spend more time together. Acting on Lumiere's astute suggestion of what would thrill an avid reader like Belle, Beast presents Belle with his massive personal library as a gift for helping him, and even organizes a private ball for himself and Belle. Belle is impressed by his ability to appear and act like a gentleman. After dancing for a while, Beast asks Belle if she is happy, and she responds positively, but says that her happiness would be complete if she can see her father again. In response, Beast takes Belle to the West Wing and shows her his magic mirror, telling her that it will let her see whatever she wishes. To her horror, Belle sees that her father is stranded in the woods, and possibly falling fatally ill in the cold. Beast, taking Belle's feelings into account before his own, decides to let Belle leave to aid her father. After a tearful goodbye, Belle leaves the castle, and Beast breaks down, falling into despair once again. When Cogsworth asks him why he let her go, the Beast finally acknowledges his feelings in words. "Because... I love her." However, later on, someone comes to the castle, but not Belle. Instead, it is a lynch mob who have come to kill the Beast, led by a man who was vying for Belle's feelings: Gaston. Though Beast is prepared to let them come and murder him, the servants think otherwise, and valiantly defend their master by fighting the mob. However, Gaston had already escaped from the battle to look for Beast. Gaston eventually finds Beast, and starts his merciless torture by shooting the Beast in the back with an arrow and tossing him onto the lower levels of the castle roof. Believing he has lost Belle forever, the Beast has no desire to escape; but upon seeing that Belle and Maurice had returned to the castle gates, the Beast finds the will to live in her return. He faces Gaston and begins to fight back. The Beast defeats the hunter and literally holds Gaston at his mercy by holding him by the neck above a chasm. Gaston begs for mercy, and the Beast spares him, knowing that it is no longer in his heart to kill anyone. Belle then comes to the West Wing balcony, and Beast turns his attention to her, climbing up to her. However, mercy proves to be a weak point when Gaston follows and stabs Beast in the back with a Bowie knife. Beast in pain then swings his arm backwards, causing Gaston to fall from the roof. Despite being handed over his death by a fatal stab wound, Belle's love for him is somehow able to both revive him and transform him back into his human form. The next day, a ball is held to celebrate their victory. ''Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas'' In the midquel, which takes place not long after the Beast rescued Belle from the wolves, much to Beast's frustration, Belle wants to celebrate Christmas and throw a real Christmas party. Beast hates the idea of Christmas, for it was the very day ten years ago when the Enchantress cast the spell on him and the entire castle. While Beast sits most of the preparations out, a treacherous servant plots to have Belle thrown out of the castle: Forte the Pipe Organ, since he is far more appreciated by the Beast while under the spell. Unknown to Beast, Belle writes him a special book which he doesn't see until later on. She also meets Forte later on in a chance meeting. Forte tells her that Beast's favorite Christmas tradition was the Christmas tree. Belle becomes frustrated, for no tree she has seen on the grounds has been tall enough to hang ornaments. Forte lies to Belle, saying that a perfect tree can be found in the woods beyond the castle. Reluctant to go against Beast's orders that she never leave the castle, Belle leaves nonetheless in order to find the perfect tree. When Belle doesn't arrive to see Beast's Christmas present to her, he begins to suspect that she isn't there at all. When Cogsworth, having been ordered to retrieve Belle, explains that the household cannot find her, Beast becomes enraged. He goes to Forte to ask for advice, and Forte lies that Belle has abandoned him. Beast confronts Belle in the woods and saves her in time from drowning, since she fell through thin ice. Still believing that Belle disobeyed him by leaving the grounds, Beast throws her into the dungeons. But when Forte goads him into destroying the rose to end his suffering, Beast finds Belle's book in the West Wing and reads it, coming to his senses and realizing that all Belle wants is for him to be happy. Releasing Belle from the dungeon, Beast prepares to join in the Christmas festivities. But Forte doesn't give up and even goes as far as to attempt to destroy the entire castle with Beethoven's 5th. Fortunately, Beast finds him in time and destroys his keyboard with Franz Schubert's Symphony No 8. Losing his balance (and his pipes), Forte falls from the wall he is leaned up against and is silenced forever. When the whole castle is turned back into humans, the Prince and Belle give Chip, Mrs. Potts' son, a book to read, which he loves. As Adam and Belle come out to the balcony, he gives her something: a rose. ''Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World'' In the final entry in the film series, made up of four segments from a presumably failed television series, Belle teaches the Beast a thing or two about life itself, consideration and manners. He appears only in the first and fourth segments, and in a cameo in the third. In the first part, The Perfect Word, Beast and Belle have a bitter falling out at dinner when the Beast demands that Cogsworth open the windows to cool him down, despite the fact that he is the only one hot and there is a cold wind, and angrily strikes his servant, Webster, a long-tongued dictionary. Despite Lumiere and Cogsworth's pleas, Beast refuses to apologise for his behaviour, until Webster, Crane and LePlume forge a letter of apology from the Beast to Belle. All is settled, until the Beast realises that it was a forgery. He furiously banishes Webster, Crane and LePlume from the castle, but Belle brings them back from the woods, and the Beast soon learns to forgive them, as their intentions were good. In the fourth part, The Broken Wing, the Beast loses his temper with Belle again when she brings an injured bird into the castle, as he dislikes birds. As he tries to chase the bird out, however, he falls over on the stairs and hits his head hard, stripping him of his hatred for birds. However, his selfishness still remains, and he locks the bird in a cage in his room, demanding that it sing for him whenever he demands it. The bird, terrified, refuses, until Belle teaches the Beast that the bird will only sing when happy. The Beast lets the bird out, and learns to consider others before himself. Earlier on, in the third segment, the Beast is only seen sleeping in his bed in the West Wing. Dialogue between Lumiere and Cogsworth shows that he had spent the entire previous night mending leaks in the castle roof, and is still resting. In other media ''Kingdom Hearts'' series Beast appears as a major Disney character in the bestselling video game series Kingdom Hearts. *''Kingdom Hearts: During a time in which the spell had not yet broken, Beast's home is attacked by Heartless led by Maleficent, and Belle is taken captive. Determined to stop at nothing to rescue Belle, Beast goes as far as to exploit the power of darkness and risk his own life to transport himself to Hollow Bastion, where Belle is being held captive with the other six Princesses of Heart (Snow White, Cinderella, Jasmine, Alice, Aurora, and Kairi). Upon arriving in Hollow Bastion, Beast is confronted by Riku, who challenges him to a duel and easily defeats him. But Beast is saved at the last minute by Sora, Donald and Goofy, who are looking for Kairi. Allying himself with Sora, since Donald and Goofy have temporarily joined with Riku due to a Keyblade incident, Beast fights the Heartless and protects Sora while they work their way into the Hollow Baston castle. Entering the castle, Beast, Sora, Donald and Goofy fight their way through until they encounter and defeat Maleficent, who transforms into her dragon form and challenges them once again, only to be defeated once more. The four heroes find Kairi, but the circumstances cause Sora, Donald, Goofy and Kairi to leave Hollow Bastion, and Beast states that he will not leave without Belle. Later on, Beast encounters Sora once again when he returns to Hollow Bastion to lock the Keyhole. During their second search, Beast and Sora find Belle, who embraces Beast and presents Sora with the Divine Rose Keychain. Beast is also present when Sora encounters Xemnas in Hollow Bastion in the Final Mix version of the game. In the manga he is reunited with Belle and the Princesses of Heart after Sora was turned into a Heartless and before seeing Sora not being a Heartless thought that Sora was swallowed into darkness and that there was almost no hope since Sora was the Keblade bearer. *Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories: Here, Beast is merely a figment of Sora's memories. He is once again separated from Belle, courtesy of Maleficent, but once more, Beast defeats Maleficent with Sora's help and rescues Belle. *Kingdom Hearts II: After Sora defeats Ansem, all the previously attacked worlds are restored, including Beast's Castle. Afterwards, Beast and Belle return to their home to carry on with their lives. However, the peace is shattered once again when Beast is approached by Xaldin of Organization XIII to do his bidding. Xaldin was determined to manipulate Beast into becoming a Heartless. If that happened, Beast would not only become a strong Heartless which Sora would have to destroy and feed to Kingdom Hearts, but also leave behind a powerful Nobody for Xaldin to use as he wished (just like what happened to Xeohart). Manipulated and controlled, Beast is forced to allow the Heartless into the castle and lock the entire servant staff in the dungons, with Belle too scared to intervene. Beast starts mistreating Belle. When Sora, Donald and Goofy arrived, they are encountered by Beast, who attacks them without hesitation. Sora wins the battle, and Beast comes back to his senses thanks to his servants who were released by Sora. Xaldin appears to flee. Later on, during a ball, Xaldin returns and steals the rose, throwing Beast into a depression and causing him to ask Belle and Sora to leave his castle. However a pep talk from Sora spurs him back into action. Xaldin confronts them and sends his Nobodies at them. They fight the Nobodies off, but Xaldin escapes to the castle drawbridge with Belle and the rose. Belle manages to escape from Xaldin's clutches with the rose, and Xaldin is then killed by Beast, Sora, Donald and Goofy. Belle gives Beast the rose but he is more relieved that she wasn't hurt. Beast then bids a grateful farewell to Sora, and returns to a normal life with Belle, until the spell is finally broken and Beast turns back into Prince Adam at the end of the game. Beast's Limit attack for Kingdom Hearts II is Twin Howl, where he and Sora violently shake the ground together. *Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days'': Beast is slated to appear along with his home world in the upcoming game for the Nintendo DS, although his role is currently unknown. Broadway musical The Beast appears in the Broadway Musical adaptation of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, originally portrayed by Terrence Mann. Other actors who have taken on the role include Chuck Wagner (1997), James Barbour (1998), Jeff McCarthy (2004), and Steve Blanchard. The D Show The movie and others never made mention of his real name. A CD-ROM game said "The Prince's name is Adam." Category:Beauty and the Beast characters Category:Kingdom Hearts characters Category:Fictional mammals Category:Fictional monsters Category:Fictional hybrids Category:Fictional princes Category:Fictional characters with superhuman strength Category:1991 introductions